PHILADELPHIA and CHERRY HILL, N.J., July 28, 2018—Duane Morris is very pleased to announce the settlement of the Osteopathic Physicians Class Action against the American Osteopathic Association, Talone, et. al v. American Osteopathic Association. The Court has granted preliminary approval of the settlement, and members of the class and sub-classes will be receiving notice of the settlement in the coming weeks.
The settlement is a resolution of the claims the class representatives asserted against the AOA that was negotiated over a period of approximately four months, and that provides a range of benefits to tens of thousands of DOs. Those benefits are estimated in value to be worth significantly more than $35,000,000.
In addition to agreeing to end its practice of conditioning AOA board certification on purchasing annual membership in the AOA, which was at the center of the lawsuit, the AOA has also agreed to provide a host of other economic benefits to the more than 45,000 class members, such as, for three years reducing its annual dues by $90 and waiving a $90 board certification fee; for two years offering AOA members two free CME courses of up to 12 aggregate credits and contributing not less than $2 million to an osteopathic awareness campaign; and eliminating distinctions between online and in-person CME for purposes of AOA membership. Weighed against the uncertainty and expense of protracted litigation, the valuable benefits the AOA has agreed to provide to resolve the claims against it demonstrate that the settlement is in the best interest of the class and sub-classes, as well as the AOA.
Duane Morris is greatly appreciative of the four class representatives, who devoted time and effort to vigorously pursue the claims of the class and sub-classes, and were instrumental in negotiating the significant benefits their fellow DOs will receive as a result of the settlement.
More detail can be found in the parties’ motion for preliminary approval of the settlement and the Court’s Order granting that motion.
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